Monday, June 1, 2020

Rock Radio JUNE 1970 War & Beanbag Chairs


Answer to War: Bean Bag Chair & a Lava Lamp! 

Have you lounged in a Bean Bag Chair lately? 50 years ago, they were fun and challenging. Now they’re just infuriating to anyone over fifty. In 1970 we paid around $19.99 for the kitschy seating. That’s about a quarter of the price you’ll pay now, to purchase one you might actually roll out of!

While vegging in a bean bag chair, June 1970 also saw us entranced by a lava lamp, with the radio blaring “Lay a Little Lovin’ [on me]” (Robin McNamara), or particularly pertinent to a June 1 post 50 years later, “War” by Edwin Starr.

I’ve been around for five decades with both—foreign and domestic war—and it is absolutely good for nothing. It devastates lives needlessly. Whatever the warring principle reason (except for country protection), no amount of violence is going to solve it. In most cases, war makes everything worse, dealing with the aftermath—governmentally, financially, psychologically, and individually.

That said, let’s get on with the lighter, musical side of life and put all the violent people in a bean bag chair—they’ll eventually be laughing too hard trying to get out, to fight! Rock On

50 Years Ago this Month ~ JUNE 1970
Our Featured Radio Survey for this month took their survey design to a subtly salacious level and I seriously doubt they paid for using the trademark bunny logo. It was a more lenient era when companies often thought that any publicity was good publicity—even if the logo generated commercial revenue.

I miss those days. Obviously, if a brand’s logo is used for blatant massive profitability, that’s one thing; but a radio station or other business / individual who uses a logo for fleeting or common-interest promotion and/or comment, is another. But I digress (again).

“Back in the good ol’ days,” radio stations often grabbed a company’s emblem for fun and frivolity, like the WAIR/Winston-Salem’s (NC) June 26,1970 music chart. It was Playboy magazine’s heyday and everyone knew the cute little bunny meant surreptitiously sexy. I’ll bet it got the intended attention.

Poignantly, this Spring marked the final print issue of Hugh Hefner’s steamy legacy—its first issue bounced off the presses for December 1953. The publication is still digitally available (and some might say even better), but can that ever be the same?

Seriously, how can teenage boys everywhere stash a print issue under their mattress so the parents won’t see it? Although it does likely make the print versions even more desirable for collectors. (And mom knew it was there; and dad likely knew, chuckling at his own youthful memories.)

BFYP Collection. The white carafe is bigger but the Bunny gets noticed.
About the man behind the bunny, Art Paul (1925-2018), Playboy says, “Paul was Hefner’s very first hire—founding art director of the nascent PLAYBOY—and he quickly proved his worth, drafting the now ubiquitous Rabbit Head in less than an hour.”

Partly in thanks to Paul’s imagery, women and girls wanted to be a Playboy Bunny, and the guys … well … the bunny will live on in the archives of Boomers’ memories.

On Your Transistor Radio Dial ~ JUNE 1970
Although “Lay a Little Lovin’” made WAIR’s top twenty, “War” hit the chart as a “Hot Prospect,” bubbling under the radar and on its way up.

Other pockets of the country kept love tunes—won and lost—at the top, for this traditional wedding month, like KYNO/Fresno, California, and DJ Sean Conrad. Fans obviously disillusioned with marriage thought Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” was Right On! and boosted it up to #2 in the June 24th issue of their “Boss 30.”

On the other hand, and other side of the country, DJ Pat O’Day kept the turntable spinning for Orlando Florida’s WLOF fans who heated up the “Fun 40” chart with Rare Earth’s “Get Ready” hugging the #1 spot. ♪ And I'm bringing you a love that's true | So get ready, so get ready … ♪

Featured Radio Survey: WAIR/Winston-Salem, North Carolina personified the sexy ‘70s in this month’s “Music Power Survey” with that playful Playboy Bunny, decidedly not your Easter Bunny! Check out the list of airwave attributes they claimed for their DJ “Playboys” … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …

Celebrate JUNE 1970 and … Rock On!  

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LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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